Submissions

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Himal Southasian, a digital magazine

Himal Southasian, which has been reporting on the region since 1997, has relocated to its new home in Colombo and begun publishing since March 2018. Previously published as a monthly print magazine, and then as a quarterly bookazine, Himal is now transitioning into a digital new-media platform. Below are the guidelines for contributing written pieces to us. You can also find more on our submission, copyright and payment policies by going to our FAQs.

For prospective writers

The editors of Himal welcome queries from prospective writers in all areas of the magazine’s specialisation. Pitches should be no more than one page in length (between 300 to 600 words), and should introduce the proposed article and, briefly, the writer’s background.

Himal Southasian is not a news magazine. Rather, we specialise in in-depth articles, including analysis, reportage, opinions, interviews, photo features, book reviews, fiction, as well as more personalised or unusual reflections. Our topics are as varied as is the Southasian region itself: economics, politics and social issues, explorations of culture, history, and contemporary life.

Most of our long form articles – which could be narratives, reportages, analyses or essays – run between 2000 and 4000 words, depending upon the nature and content of the piece. But we occasionally carry articles above 4000 words, provided both the subject and writing are able to sustain the reader’s – and our editors’ – interest.

Our commentary/analysis pieces are generally between 800 to 1500 words. These figures are all subject to the tone and subject of the pieces.

Feel free to include multimedia components such as graphics, photos, audio clips, or videos after confirming with your designated editor once your pitch has been accepted.

We publish only original articles, and request that writers do not submit previously published work, or work that contains large sections extracted from previously published work. Furthermore, we ask writers to inform us at the outset if the piece has been sent for consideration simultaneously elsewhere.

Himal is interested in hearing from new writers. We do not have staff writers, and rely on independent thinkers and contributors from all over Southasia and the world, not limited to the major cities.

We ask that potential correspondents familiarise themselves with Himal and its variety of articles before sending query notes. When formulating potential submissions, please bear in mind the following:

Himal Southasian, as its name suggests, covers all of Southasia. Your submission must be about Southasia, or a part of Southasia, or have a strong relevance to Southasia.

Articles should not be dated upon submission. Further, our analysis should ideally remain useful in archival form.

Himal does not accept submissions published previously in any form.

The editors are particularly interested in pieces that have a regional impact. Although we welcome extremely localised stories, we place emphasis on uniquely connective and intra-regional reports and analyses.

Himal is happy to receive in-depth articles on subjects not covered by mainstream media in each of the regional countries.

Himal offers a unique platform for debate on some of the most critical regional issues of the day. We seek rigour in both research and argumentation, but we also emphasise skill and style in writing and presentation.

Our readership is extremely diverse in background, specialisation and geography. Articles must engage specialists, but also inform non-specialists and general-interest readers.

Himal is open-ended! Once you have gotten a feel for our approach and interests, feel free to surprise us with unique perspectives, focuses, correlations and suggestions.

The editorial staff will select submissions.

For accepted writers

Once accepted, articles are edited and played back as necessary. This usually involves a few rounds of editing, fact-checking, and proofing. We ask writers to be available for regular email contact throughout this process.

We cannot guarantee when an article will be published. We often have multiple articles pending at any one time, so please be patient if it takes a few weeks for an article to be published. If an author requires publication within a certain time frame they are advised to inform the corresponding editor at the beginning of the editing process.

Write to editorial@himalmag.com. Please be patient if you do not hear from us immediately, as Himal has a small editorial staff with a large workload. Please see our FAQs for more questions you may have.